Federal Budget Challenge

YOUR CHALLENGE

Reduce the Federal Budget Deficit

Over the long term, our country faces an unsustainable mismatch between the federal government's spending commitments and what it is projected to take in through taxes. Reducing projected deficits over the next 10 years represents an opportunity to get our fiscal house in order while phasing-in changes to our long-term budget plans. This is your turn to make policy choices that will do just that.

This list of options is only intended as a representative sample of the options available to policymakers. It is neither comprehensive nor is it a list of recommendations by The Concord Coalition or Next 10.

Deficit basics

The goal of the Federal Budget Challenge is to reduce the amount of annual deficits over the next 10 years. Your starting point will be the CBO's estimate for these deficits under current law -- assuming Congress and the President pass no legislation over that time.

To learn about the budget decisions that lead to these annual deficits clickhere.

About the national debt

The national debt represents the accumulation of the government's annual deficits.

The debt is projected to grow more quickly than the economy in the future. This is concerning because the economy itself will grow more slowly as a result, lowering Americans' standard of living.